Amusing, but sad, time-building pitch

Taha

Well-Known Member
Don't post much but thought I would share this. I was approached today at the FBO I work at by some guy trying to get people for some multi-time building program in Florida. He even stated he would make some call to some person within Colgan if I were purchase 100 hours of time. The email I recieved was gross, I pulled out the name of the place because the guy knows my boss. I wish I was making this letter up...

"Dan: The Airlines are hiring? Where will you be in two years? 500 Hr blocks, $94.00 per hr wet (includes fuel) for PIC multi-engine time. Includes fuel, checkout, charts, insurance. 250 hrs wet @97.00. 100 hrs @ $96.00 per hr wet for PIC multi-engine time. MAY ONLY! You can't beat our program on price or speed of completion or flying experience. Period. We look forward to flying with you!
If you buy your time in May, you can lock in the $85.00 per hr rate wet till September! 15 days or less for 100 hrs under Part 91. You buy the time, you fly the time. We need you to go to the website below, go to the Documents Tab, follow the checklist, the PFD file titled funds is our Band of America account. Once you have deposited $9600.00 usd for 100 hrs or $19,200.00 usd for 200 hrs you can split up the time, and we have your documents we will put you on the schedge. Simple. We are closing out May and working on June! Hope to hear from you soon.

Still pursuing your dream of being a Professional Pilot? Whether Airlines or Corporate we can facilitate your dream. If you hold a Commercial Multi-engine Instrument rating, you can build the "Golden Key" of multi-engine time to get Hired! If you are paying more than $96.00 per hr wet for PIC Seneca 1 or $70.00 per hr wet for C-172, then you are wasting time and money. Remember, I will also pay you 3% of the gross on any leads you send me who fly with ####. My contact info and website are below, I look forward to talking with you soon. In life, you can have the Cadillac or the Steak knives, its up to you. Do the Math: Each month you don't fly for the airlines = $1800.00 per month x 12 = $21,600.00 per year. Can you afford not to fly with us?"

I love how he started with a question about whether the the airlines are hiring.
 
Wow, because airlines love pilots that have enough time and money not to work! I mean, I've never met a 121 pilot that hasn't just had a few grand and a month to go log some good old fun PIC time.
 
If anyone is interested, I need someone to split costs on a Cessna 150 for 29 per hour each in Los Angeles P.M. me.

By the way... I found it funny how nobody responded to my post here on a pilot forum a week ago but I got 3 responses within half a day on cragslist. I did find someone but I could probably use another one if interested.
 
i want a cadillac AND the steak knives!

And you can! $21,600, if you can live cheap, you can buy a used caddy and still get those knives. Though you may not be able to afford the steak. Just deposit $9,600 first and it can all be yours!
 
There's a "golden key" amount of multi time that'll get you hired?

Still haven't hit that, apparently. :bandit:
 
If the Uncle from Napoleon Dynamite was selling this it would be a done deal! "I want that!" (referring to the ship model, if you buy the whole set)
 
If the Uncle from Napoleon Dynamite was selling this it would be a done deal! "I want that!" (referring to the ship model, if you buy the whole set)

You bastard. I was just on Google image search looking for a picture of that. Seriously. :D
 
Obviously a scam; the numbers don't add up. Why would they give you a better hourly rate on 100 hours than 250 hours?

$85 / hr wet would imply $8500 for 100 hours, not $9600. Besides, unless he never does maintenance on his plane and has no insurance, he'd never break even, much less make money. That is, of course, he intends to bone you over, most likely by taking your money and running altogether. With all the misspelled words and poor grammar, it looks just like those "help me launder $20,000,000 by sending me $1000 and get half the money" emails you get from Africa.

Even if the deal were legit, it says you have 15 days to fly off 100 hours. So, unless you can average almost 7 hours per day for over two weeks regardless of weather or maintenance requirements, you're not going to get the full 100 hours you paid for (probably what he's counting on).
 
Obviously a scam; the numbers don't add up. Why would they give you a better hourly rate on 100 hours than 250 hours?

$85 / hr wet would imply $8500 for 100 hours, not $9600. Besides, unless he never does maintenance on his plane and has no insurance, he'd never break even, much less make money. That is, of course, he intends to bone you over, most likely by taking your money and running altogether. With all the misspelled words and poor grammar, it looks just like those "help me launder $20,000,000 by sending me $1000 and get half the money" emails you get from Africa.

Even if the deal were legit, it says you have 15 days to fly off 100 hours. So, unless you can average almost 7 hours per day for over two weeks regardless of weather or maintenance requirements, you're not going to get the full 100 hours you paid for (probably what he's counting on).

Very fishy guy... When he was talking to me in person he said something about knowing somebody at Colgan and said "Don't you want to fly a Saab 340." Said he could make a call, after I payed for 100 Hours. Yeah, umm, no thanks.
 
Unfortunately, there are a lot of idiots out there that think this is a good deal. I wonder how many PMs the OP has received asking for the contact info?
 
Why don't you go ahead and post the name and business? That would help to warn others.

Pay up front....? Sounds like the Silver State Helicopter scam.
 
These deals were around when I was in the game and it won't surprise me if they're around long after I'm dead. That being said, if I didn't live in an area where I'd need a FIKI twin in order to fly year 'round, I'd buy myself a decent twinkie or twin beech and start offering this kind of deal in a second.

Why not? Get a twin with halfway decent engines, insure the heck out of it and let the schmucks fly the snot out of it. I'd bet if you handled the finances properly, you'd end up with the plane paid off and enough in the bank to redo both engines and props before the first annual was due. PT Barnum didn't care a lick if his patrons got their moneys worth of entertainment, why should I, or anyone else, care a lick if they get a job with the time they build? If there is a market, and there most definitely is, you can't fault anyone for stepping up to the plate and filling it.

I'd do it, but I'd want the plane to live where I live and that would mean it would have to be grounded 4 or 5 months out of the year and that's just not a good business model IMO. If we lived in Florida or Texas, I'd do it in a heartbeat. I wouldn't recommend that any pilots actually patronize me, but I'd offer the service none the less. I should have been a tobacco executive. :bandit:
 
15 days to fly 100 hours? Yeah, about that...

$21,600/2080 = $10.38/hour

I know thats a very realistic salary. Just thought I'd go ahead and do the rest of the math.
 
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